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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Putin sends Christmas greetings, Hillary doubts he has soul |
| 2008-01-08 |
| Russian President Vladimir Putin sent greetings to Orthodox believers on the Russian Christmas Day on Monday, as in the United States presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton claimed Putin had no soul. “This festival has for centuries brought the light of faith, hope and love,” Putin said in the Christmas message released by the Kremlin on the Orthodox Christmas day, January 7. “It draws us towards primordial spiritual values uniting millions of people, values that play a special role in the history of Russia and nourish our national culture,” Putin said. Putin has committed himself to the Orthodox faith despite his background in the KGB security service in the Soviet era, when Christianity was suppressed. Dressed entirely in black, the Russian leader joined Christmas ceremonies overnight at a church in the snow-covered northern town of Veliky Ustyug, where the temperature was about minus 17 degrees Celsius (one degree Fahrenheit). But as Russians and branches of the Orthodox faith in other countries celebrated Christmas, in the United States presidential candidate and former first lady Clinton made a cutting assessment of Putin’s spirituality while campaigning in the state of New Hampshire. Her remark that Putin had no soul came as she savaged President George W. Bush for his tactic of trying to forge warm personal bonds with foreign leaders. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #7 Her remark that Putin had no soul She's jealous that Putin negotiated a better contract when he sold his soul. |
| Posted by: DMFD 2008-01-08 20:15 |
| #6 Whether Pooty has soul or not, this is a case of simple projection. |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2008-01-08 14:49 |
| #5 Interesting. I'm thinking it could be Putin realizes that things like culture and religion unite people better than bogus ideologies like Marxism. Wasn't one of the lessons they learned in WWII that when they called on people to defend the mother land the people tended to respond better than when the call was to defend international socialism? Hillary can talk about the man's soul all she wants. I wouldn't judge his commitment to Jesus anymore than I would hers (pot calling kettle black). But he is clearly not stupid. OTOH, to deliberately insult the powerful leader of a country like Russia with whom you may one day have to negotiate important bilateral agreements doesn't strike me as being all that smart. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2008-01-08 12:13 |
| #4 Dignified comment, but no more than I'd expect from her. He wants to put the Soviet Union back together more than anything, and he'll do anything he can to get it done. He's duplicitous, conniving and ruthless, but not soulless. I'd MUCH rather have him as prez than her if those were my only two choices. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-01-08 11:18 |
| #3 an actual quote of her? Could it be that a Paki paper misinterpreted something she said about Bush looking into Putins eyes? |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2008-01-08 10:30 |
| #2 I thought she was going to make foriegners like us. How would questioning Putin's committment to Christianity improve her electability? If she plans to court the evangelicals, she will be every bit as successful as Romney would be if he reaches out to the NAACP. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2008-01-08 07:40 |
| #1 Hmm. Would you rather have a leader with a brain, a heart, or a soul? |
| Posted by: gorb 2008-01-08 05:51 |